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Advancing Reproductive Justice for Black Women and Women of Color in Cleveland

A politically hostile and anti-woman sentiment is playing out in Ohio, where local and state legislators are using women’s access to reproductive health care as a tool to jockey for power. We are seeing varying degrees of this in states across the country, but the anti-choice movement’s “war on women” most recently came to a head in Ohio following the tragic death of Lakisha Wilson, a 22-year-old mother who had sought an abortion during her second trimester at Preterm, which provides abortions through 22 weeks’ gestation.

After Wilson’s death, the media and anti-choice organizations began stirring the anti-abortion discussion at the local and state level, but it was the response from women of color and allied organizations that is setting a precedent. Their work fighting back against these attacks shows that women will not stand idly by and watch their rights be taken away or have others—be it mainstream media outlets, anti-choice organizations, or anti-woman politicians—dictate their health and safety needs. It’s a model that other groups around the country should follow, especially in the coming year, when newly elected GOP lawmakers will be fighting hard against them.